Today, I continue my ongoing series of conversations with awesome storytellers creating fantastic projects as I’m joined by Alex Dee, the content creator for Family Rosary and the host of the new podcast The Lampstand. I’m blessed to call Alex a colleague and friend and to be a listener to his great new show. In our conversation, he hits on why podcasts are such an impactful way of reaching young people and families. I hope you enjoy this conversation and that it helps you realize that our sharing of small gifts, actions, and prayers does matter! Lisa
Alex, congratulations on the launch of the new podcast The Lampstand: God’s Vision For The Family. Please introduce yourself to our readers and share your role at Family Rosary.
First off, I just want to thank you Lisa for allowing me to reach out to your audience it really is such a gift for this new project. I am Family Rosary’s content creator and manager; I directly oversee and foster the development of new video content as well as a variety of other areas of content creation. This past year, since I came on board, my team and I have had many hours of discussions and prayer investigating where the Holy Spirit is guiding us and what content we need to help produce. The podcast was one of the newer areas of content creation that we identified as a space the ministry needed to enter, and thanks to a lot of work and prayers here we are today.
What was the motivation to start a podcast?
Our motivation was simple: we need to reach younger audiences. We are really focused on helping young Catholic families hold on to their faith and begin a family devotion to the Rosary. Most of our content has been focused on writing blogs (and, more recently, creating videos), but today so many of my peers listen to and search for high-quality podcasts.
What are your primary goals for the podcast?
Our mission really revolves around strengthening families’ spiritual lives and inspiring them to pray the Rosary together. However, we have really come to realize that in order to get people to pray the Rosary, we have to meet and equip young families with the faith. We want families to see the light of Christ, His Truth and beauty so they understand how praying the Rosary is a part of the bigger picture of the Church and Catholicism as a whole.
You’re already a few episodes in to the show. What has surprised you about the episodes you’ve done so far??
The most surprising thing really is the way that spirit-led conversations can organically go where they need to go. Acting as the podcast’s producer and host can have some stressful moments in pre-production with self-conscious questions like “Is this going to make sense to people?” or “Will I sound dumb asking this question?” But every time those moments arise in the podcast that I was busy trying to plan out, the Holy Spirit has an amazing way of guiding the conversation along.
Why is podcasting such an effective tool for reaching young families with encouragement and information?
Listening to meaningful conversations is naturally interesting and engaging. Podcasts also fit perfectly into what many young people have grown accustomed to with regards to media consumption. Podcasts are instantaneous and you can easily take a break and come back to an episode where you left off. I believe many young people who are starting families today are hungry for deep conversations about truth, love, sexuality, and how the Church has something to say in of all these areas. However, many are scared to enter directly into some of these conversations due to some current social/cultural pressures. Podcasting opens a proxy conversation of sorts to help people gain perspectives in many different areas of importance in their lives.
Join @LisaHendey for a quick chat with @familyrosaryorg podcast host Alex Dee and learn why Ven. Patrick Peyton would LOVE this new show! #TheFamilyThatPraysTogetherStaysTogether The Lampstand Podcast: 3 Minutes with Alex Dee Share on XWhat are your plans for the future of the show?
Right now, we are focusing on featuring Catholic ‘thought leaders’ to help launch the show and get some greater awareness. I love that we are able to have great discussions with amazing and established intellectuals, but I think there is a great need to bring these insights and discussions back ‘home,’ so to speak. In the future we will still continue to lean on discussions with established thinkers in the Catholic space, but I am also really interested fostering discussions with great examples of real-life Catholic moms and dads to come on and just discuss how they were able to pass on the faith to their kids (and of course how they find time to pray the Rosary).
What do you think that Venerable Patrick Peyton would have to say about using this kind of technology to share the Good News?
He would love it. Mainly because he was doing this before my generation thought it was even cool. If Father Peyton were alive for this radio renaissance of podcasts, he would be teaching us all lessons of how to preach the gospel and reach millions over the digital airwaves.
Are there any additional thoughts or comments you would like to share?
I hope that podcast inspires fathers and mothers alike in their vocations. The family is more and more at the forefront of many modern-day flashpoints; “as the family goes…so goes the world” – St. John Paul II. Every generation needs the Gospel and the Church in very specific ways, but today I believe we are in a unique situation where the world is changing too fast for anyone to keep up. I hope this podcast is a reminder to go back to the foundations of our faith, especially when life seems crazy. And to continue championing Fr. Peyton’s mission and message for families, calling them to be open to building a regular habit and devotion by picking up their Rosaries and praying the prayer our Heavenly Mother gave to us.
Learn more about The Lampstand and subscribe at Apple Podcasts or Spotify